


Traction

by Theoroark



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Hospitals, Injury, Pre-Fall of Overwatch, Repression, Strike Team era, That one picture where Ana's ripping an Omnic apart with her goddamn bare hands, War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-02
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2019-01-28 16:03:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,043
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12610340
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Theoroark/pseuds/Theoroark
Summary: They were quickly getting overwhelmed. As one of the turrets came near her position, she spotted a vulnerable patch of wiring. Her rifle's rounds would do little against the plating covering it. But she had a knife.-Ana's first major injury in the Strike Team.





	Traction

It made perfect sense to Ana at the time. 

 

They had anticipated roving turrets, of course, but had not anticipated that they would be equipped with anti-ballistic shielding. And so Jack, Commander Reyes, and herself were effectively reduced to throwing pebbles at the things while Reinhardt swung his hammer at its kneecaps. They were quickly getting overwhelmed. As one of them came near her position, she spotted a vulnerable patch of wiring. Her rifle's rounds would do little against the plating covering it. But she had a knife. 

 

She stood up, took a running jump through the window, and landed on the thing's back. She buried the knife in the plastic and it cracked, and she clawed away the shards and began hacking at the cables. The turret shuddered and seized, and she could dimly hear Reyes yelling to her in her earpiece over the horrible screeching noises it was making. The knife bent on the metal side of the cavity and so she reached in, grabbed a fistful of wires, and pulled. 

 

The Omnic screamed and bucked and she fell backwards off of it. The wind was knocked out of her and so it took her a second too long to recognize the growing shadow over her. She scrambled backwards, but the turret landed hard on her thighs, and she heard a sick crack and a distinctly human scream before she blacked out. 

 

-

 

Gabriel and Jack were there when she woke up. She blinked in the bright lights of the med bay and lifted her head slowly, trying to find the source of the low mumbling. Gabriel noticed she was awake and quickly motioned for Jack to stop. 

 

"That was the stupidest shit I've seen in a long time, Amari," he said. From the corner of her eye, she could see Jack pulling some kind of face, and so she diligently focused on Gabriel. 

 

"Apologies, Commander, the opportunity just presented itself to–"

 

"You attacked a highly lethal Omnic with your bare hands."

 

"And a knife. Sir."

 

Jack let out a little noise and Ana busied herself with opening the cup of apple sauce on the tray in front of her. Gabriel rubbed his face. 

 

"It's going go take around a week for your legs to heal. That's time when we won't be operating at full capacity, time the Omnics can use to regroup. I wish you'd thought beyond one bot."

 

Ana set down the cup. "I thought it was the way to avoid further casualties, sir. I thought it was a risk worth taking."

 

He snorted. "You know, it might have been, but don't tell me you were thinking ahead when you pulled that. We both know that's a lie." He stood up from his chair and headed to the door. "Doc said if you follow orders, you could be moving as soon as Friday. So stay in bed."

 

"That should be easy. On account of the legs." Gabriel rolled his eyes and left. Ana and Jack watched the door close behind him, then quickly turned back to each other. 

 

"$20, Morrison. Pay up."

 

"Bullshit." He leaned back in his chair, resting his feet on her bed, and she scowled. "I took out twelve more bots after you took your little nap. WHILE carrying you. You were not twelve ahead before that stunt. I win the bet."

 

"You wouldn't have been around to shoot those bots if I hadn't saved your ass. By the transitive property, those are my kills."

 

"Horseshit." Ana swatted at his foot and he burrowed his heel deeper into the blankets, grinning. "I gotta admit, though. That was badass."

 

"Right?! Like, I knew Gabriel would be pissed because I broke procedure or whatever, but I thought he would be able to acknowledge how fuckin' rad that was."

 

"Eh. He'll get around to it," Jack said. "I think he just got a little spooked by the whole thing."

 

"By the turrets using the shielding, you mean?"

 

Jack paused. "Yeah," he said. "Hey, they gave you a holovid. What channels do you get here?"

 

-

 

It was 11 PM and they had watched three interchangeable action movies and Jack had not left. 

 

Reinhardt and Torbjörn had come and gone– the former with theatrics and a hug that threatened to break her remaining limbs, the latter with begrudging appreciation that someone had listened to his lectures on Omnic anatomy. They had left within the hour and given Jack an odd look as they did so but he remained. 

 

"It's getting late," she said for the second time. 

 

"Yeah. You think Die Hard is on somewhere?"

 

"Dunno." She yawned loudly. 

 

"Hey, Fast and Furious 17. That's retro. Let's do it."

 

"Jack. Leave."

 

"Fine, we can watch Fury Highway again–"

 

"No." She rubbed at her eyes, frustrated. "I'm exhausted. You've been here all day. Let me sleep."

 

Jack's lazy smile disappeared. He set the holovid back down and stood up. "Okay. Bye, I guess."

 

"Seriously?"

 

"I was just trying to help but fine. Whatever."

 

"Really, Jack?" Ana glared at him and he stared mulishly at the floor. "What did you do to help me? Did I ask for your help? When have I ever needed babysitting?"

 

He scuffed his foot against the tiled floor. "That's not it–"

 

"Then tell me, Jack. Because I have no goddamn idea why you won't leave me alone."

 

"I wanted to help."

 

" _How_?" She gestured around the room, at the remnants of a meal that had been brought in by the medic, at the tubing that was setting her legs, at the holovid that had drowned out his incessant chatter. "There is literally nothing you could do to help."

 

Jack opened his mouth, closed it, and then turned to the door, but not before Ana saw his eyes shining. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed. 

 

"Jack, I'm sorry." 

 

"No. You're right." He toyed with the door knob and his voice was strained. "I was being an ass. I'm sorry."

 

"Okay." He nodded and she picked at a loose thread on her blanket. She was still deeply exhausted from the past few days and from him, but his eyes still looked wet and he had carried her off the battle field, it seemed like the least she could do was to nudge him to wherever he was going. 

 

"So, uh, do you want to talk about it?"

 

He hesitated and then turned back to her. "You don't. It's fine."

 

"Just sit down and talk, Jack." He sat back down and clasped his hands and stared at them, twisting his fingers. Ana waited. 

 

"I don't know, Ana. It's just like– do you ever read Gabe's mission briefings all the way through?"

 

"...I skim them."

 

"Well, he makes me read them, and you know what he puts in their?" Ana shook her head. "Estimates of each of our probability of dying." He laughed bitterly. "He's so good at finding the brainiest ways to be dumb as shit. Anyway. He almost always puts down that he's the most likely to die, unless we're having Torb or Liao infiltrate some place. And that freaks me out so bad. But every report, he's put you as the most likely to survive. And so every time I start to get scared, I just look at that stupid percentage, and I think, 'At least Ana will get out of this. No matter what happens, Ana will be there.'"

 

He raised his head and wiped at his eyes. "It was dumb. But I made you out to be this one guarantee in the middle of all this mess. And when you went down, I guess I realized how stupid I was being."

 

"You weren't being stupid, Jack," she said softly. 

 

"Kind of was."

 

"I did the same thing." He looked at her, surprised. "Back in the army. I told myself that since I was part of a sniper corp, I wouldn't lose anyone. I told myself that yeah, this was a war, but we were the best, we were enhanced, we were special. And so I was completely unprepared for when, of course, people died." She twisted her blanket in her hands. "I don't know. It was dumb. But I was that kind of dumb, too."

 

He smiled a little. "That helps, I guess." She put her hand on his shoulder. 

 

"I get scared about you too, you know." He nodded. "I just... I don't know. I try not to think about it."

 

Jack frowned and looked down at his folded hands. "I don't know if can do that," he said after a beat. 

 

It made sense. Jack was always present, Jack was always in the heat battle, Jack always read Gabriel's reports. Jack was too hardheaded and too soft to let go. 

 

"I'm here if you ever want to talk, Ana."

 

Ana, though, she had always prided herself on being sensible. She picked up her holovid and turned it back on. He sighed and up against her bed's railing and watched the fourth movie with her. She lay there and within the hour, she heard him snoring softly. She turned it off, pulled the blanket up around her, and closed her eyes. 

 

-

 

When she woke up, Jack was gone and Gabriel was in his place. There was another cup of apple sauce on the tray in front of her and bouquet of flowers in his lap. He held them out to her. 

 

"From Liao," he said. "She told me to tell you to get well soon, and to not do that again."

 

"Did she really say that, or are you editorializing?"

 

"Doesn't that sound like Liao?"

 

Ana took the flowers from him and put them on the tray. Gabriel smiled. "Jack calmed down, by the way. Or tired himself out. In any case, he was doing better when I left him."

 

Ana toyed aimlessly with one of the petals.  Gabriel could make it sound as dickish as he wanted, but he would not have left Jack if he was truly concerned about him. 

 

"You knew he was panicking," she said. Gabriel nodded. 

 

"He didn't embarrass himself or anything, I doubt anyone else knew, just, you know–"

 

"Yeah." Just that Gabriel always knew. "Is that why you were such a dick yesterday?"

 

"I mean, you did break protocol." Ana raised an eyebrow. "But yeah. I thought it would make him feel better, like you were less likely to do it again. And I knew you could take it."

 

"So you think I did the right thing?"

 

"What? Yes." He looked surprised at her question. "You saw an opportunity and you took it. It's what I would want any of my soldiers to do. What I would have done."

 

She nodded and moved the flowers to the side. She could feel his eyes on her as she picked at the foil on the apple sauce cup. 

 

"I'm sorry I reprimanded you," he said after a moment. She set it down, examined his expression and found both hangdog guilt and genuine remorse, and sighed. 

 

"I'm not mad at you, Gabriel." He waited and she sighed again. "It's just... a lot. Not dealing with Jack, but just– I knew what he was talking about. And most of the time I can ignore it. And first he made me think about it and now you are."

 

Gabriel snorted. "Well, tell you what, how about you analyze that shit for everyone on this team and for every mission, knowing that you'll be the one responsible for it– and then I'll feel bad for you."

 

She glared at him and he grinned. "You're such an asshole."

 

"Yeah."

 

"And you and Jack do all sorts of dumbass shit all the time."

 

"You're right," Gabriel said breezily. "And both Jack and I have had to deal with the same guilt trips and hysterics. Welcome to the dumbass club, Amari."

 

"Gee, thanks, Commander."

 

"No problem." He stood up and clapped her on the shoulder, and his expression shifted to something more serious. 

 

"I really was worried," he said. 

 

"I told you, I'm not mad at you."

 

"That's not why I'm saying it." Ana looked down and he squeezed her shoulder. 

 

"We don't have to talk about it," she said, and he nodded and left. 

**Author's Note:**

> Ana: reserved, reflective sniper. Also Ana: [this shit.](https://78.media.tumblr.com/350e8e81e3b428b916185d04c405ea6f/tumblr_oytb7vVJaW1w1fwy8o1_r1_540.png)
> 
> I'm @tacticalgrandma if you want to talk to me there.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and any comments/kudos would mean the world to me <3


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